Adult social care directors have ‘deep concerns’ about the Infection Control Fund which is being rolled out to support care providers.
President of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) president James Bullion has publicly written to the care minister Helen Whately after private warnings went unheeded.
Mr Bullion has told the minister that the system is overly bureaucratic, making it ‘difficult for providers to claim and impossible for local authorities to deliver within the required timescales.’
In addition, the cost of PPE – one of the major issues for many areas – is not covered by the scheme and it covers care homes, but not home care visits.
He writes: ‘The conditions being attached to this funding are so restrictive and the reporting so onerous that providers are going to struggle to justify expenditure and local authorities are going to struggle to provide assurance resulting in large amounts of the money going unspent or worse clawed back.’
He claimed the system will create tensions between care providers and local authorities, adding: ‘Providers are already incorrectly blaming councils for flaws in this national system.’
ADASS has called for a short-term and long-term solution to the funding and reform of social care. The letter adds: ‘Adult social care must never again be considered as an afterthought to the NHS.’